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Colonel William Raymond Lee 
of the Revolution 



By Thomas Amory Lee, A.M., LL. B. 



Deprinted from the Essex Institute Historical Collections 
Vol. 53, with Additions. 



Salem, Mass. 

The Essex Institute 

1917 




COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE 

I 745 - 1824 

From the miniature by Hancock, 1805, 

in possession of the Essex Institute. 



Colonel William Raymond Lee 
of the Revolution 



By Thomas Amory Lee, A.M., LL. B. 



Deprinted from the Essex Institute Historical Collections 
Vol. 53, with Additions. 



Salem, Mass. 

The Essex Institute 

1917 






Newcomb & Gauss 

Printers 

Salem, Mass. 



THE ANCESTRY OF COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND 

LEE. 



Col. William Raymond Lee, of the Continental Army, 
was descended from Henry and Mary Lee, who settled in 
Manchester, Mass., in 1650. The ancestry of Henry Lee 
is unknown, but it is said that he came from Cheshire, 
England, and that he brought with him the coat of arms 
of the ancient family of Lee, of Lea or Dern Hall, Che- 
shire, of which Maj.-Gen. Charles Lee, of the American 
Revolution, Sir Harry Lee, Knight of the Garter, and the 
various Earls of Litchfield (Quarrendon and Ditchley 
Lees) were members. His line of descent from that 
family is not known, though it has been suggested that 
he might be the Henry Lee who was the third son of 
George Lee, of Highgate, Middlesex, who died in June, 
1637, and was younger brother to Sir Henry Lee, the first 
Baronet, of Ditchley, Oxon, both being sons of Sir Robert 
Lee, Knight, of Hulcote, Bucks. It has also been sug- 
gested that Henry Lee may have been the Dr. Henry Lee 
who was a brother of Col. Richard Lee, of York County, 
Va., the ancestor of the Lees of Virginia. 

Henry Lee died in Manchester, Mass., in 1675, after 
having served as town selectman, and after having been 
elected by the County Court as constable. He was sur- 
vived by his wife, Mary, sons John, 1661-1744, a Justice 
of the Peace and prominent citizen, Samuel, of whom 
later, and Thomas, who took part in the Canadian Expe- 
dition of 1690, Capt. William Raymond's Company, and 
never returned, and daughters Hanna and Sarah. Deacon 
Samuel Lee, 1667-1754, was a well known merchant of 
his time, owned slaves in 1690, owned the largest vessels 
of his town, among them the " Swallow " in 1692, was town 
clerk, 1725-38, selectman about fifteen years, one of 
the two first deacons of the first church of Manchester, 
1716-1754, was a Justice of the Peace, and was called 
Samuel Lee, Esq., in the records. He married Rebecca 

(3) 



4 THE ANCESTRY OF COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 

Masters, daughter of Nathaniel and Kuth (Pickworth) 
Masters, and granddaughter of the " Worshipful Mr. 
John Masters " of Cambridge, 1639. Deacon Samuel 
Lee had nine children, including Lieut. Nathaniel Lee, an 
officer of the militia, and Justice Samuel Lee, who was 
the grandfather of Col. William Raymond Lee. 

Justice Samuel Lee, 1693-1753, was a celebrated archi- 
tect and builder, and one of tha most prominent mer- 
chants of the Province of Massachusetts. He removed 
to Marblehead, Mass., about 1740, and in 1745 he is 
spoken of as " Justice Samuel Lee, Esq.", a " very wealthy 
merchant and owner of many warehouses ". He held 
various town offices, such as town treasurer, town clerk 
and selectman, was a Justice of the Peace for many years, 
and in 1732 was appointed commissioner to make a report 
to the General Court in regard to the well known Dog 
Town or Gloucester dispute. He owned six houses in 
Manchester and Marblehead, many slaves and many ships, 
silver, at least two portraits, and a really good library for 
the time. He made a number of journeys abroad, and on 
one of them brought back a parchment pedigree of the 
Lees of Lea Hall. He was one of the richest merchants 
of his day in the Province, and seems to have exerted a 
decided influence on the community around him. He 
married, first, 1712, Mary Tarring, daughter of General 
John and Abigail (Abbott) Tarring; second, Hannah 
(Negus) Swett, widow of Dr. Joseph Swett, Jr., of Mar- 
blehead. He left a legacy of XlOO for a free school in 
Manchester, directed that no mourning was to be paid for 
or escutcheons put on his coffin, and divided his estate, 
valued at £11,333, among his children. 

Justice Lee had thirteen children, including Capt. 
Samuel Lee, 1714-1779, Justice of the Peace and promi- 
nent merchant, whose issue is now extinct in the male 
line ; Col. John Lee, of whom later ; Col. Jeremiah Lee, 
of whom later ; David Lee, who was a student at Harvard 
from 1744 to 1747, in the class of 1748, and died before 
his graduation. He ran off without leave of the faculty 
to go to the siege of Louisburg, in 1745, and was fined 
and degraded by the faculty ; and Abigail, who married 
Col. John Gallison, Esq., 1731-1786, a very prominent 



THE ANCESTRY OF COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 5 

merchant and citizen of Marblehead, being a selectman, 
1762, Justice of the Peace, 1766, Representative to the 
General Court, 1769, 1774 and 1775, and Colonel of the 
6th Essex Regiment in 1772. The late Henry Hammond 
Gallison, artist, of Boston, was a descendant. (See The 
Gallison Family of Marblehead, by Thomas Amory Lee.) 
Col. Jeremiah Lee, 1721-1775, "the illustrious patriot 
of the Revolution," uncle of Col. William Raymond Lee, 
was one of the greatest merchants of New England before 
the Revolution. His mansion, finished in 1768, is said to 
have been the most magnificent built in the colonies, and 
is now owned by the Marblehead Historical Society. Col. 
Lee was one of the most prominent patriots of the Revo- 
lution and lost in it both his life and his fortune. He 
was chairman of the Essex County Congress of 1774, 
chairman of the Marblehead delegates to the Provincial 
Congresses of 1774 and 1775, chairman of the committee to 
wait upon Gov. Gage, and was a very activ member of 
the famous Committee of Public Safety and Supplies, 
with Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Col. Lee was 
elected to the Old Continental Congress of 1774 as the 
delegate from Marblehead, but declined the honor on 
account of pressing personal affairs. He died from the 
effects of exposure received on the night of April 18, 
1775, when the British troops surrounded the Black Horse 
Tavern on their way to Lexington, and Col. Lee, Col. 
Azor Orne and Elbridge Gerry (later Vice President of 
the United States) hid in their night clothes in a corn 
field behind the tavern. Col. Lee was also colonel of the 
Marblehead Regiment and was a Justice of the Peace, as 
were his two brothers, Col. John and Capt. Samuel Lee, 
his father Justice Samuel, hig grandfather Deacon Sam- 
uell, and his great uncle John Lee. Portraits of Col. and 
Mrs. Jeremiah Lee, by Copley, are owned by their great- 
great-great- grandson, Thomas Amory Lee. Full length 
copies of the Copley portraits, by Chester Harding, are 
owned by Col. Lee's great-great-grand-daughter, Elizabeth 
Amory Lee, wife of Brig.-Gen. Oswald H. Ernst, U. S. A. 
Mrs. Frederick Kinsman of Wilmington, Delaware, owns 
a miniature, said to be by Copley, of her great-great-grand- 
father, Col. Lee. Col. Lee married Martha, daughter of 



6 THE ANCESTRY OP COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 

Dr. Joseph and Martha (Stacey) Swett. Dr. Swett was 
a wealthy importing and exporting merchant of Marble- 
head. Among their children were Joseph and Mary Lee. 
Capt. Joseph Lee, 1748-1785, graduated A. B. from Har- 
vard in 1769, and later A. M. He was a classmate of his 
brother-in-law, Hon. Nathaniel Tracy, was an importing 
and exporting merchant, and served in the Revolution as 
Capt. of the 6th Co. of Glover's Regiment. He married 
Hannah, daughter of the patriot. Col. Isaac Hinckley of 
Barnstable, A. M., Harvard, 1740, grand-daughter ef 
Hon. Col. Sylvanus Bourne, Esq., great-grand-daughter 
of Lt.-Col, John Gorham, who married Mary, sister of 
Col. John Otis. Colonel Hinckley was first cousin of 
President Thomas Clap of Yale, Harvard, 1722, and Mrs. 
Hinckley's brother, Hon. Col. William Bourne, mar- 
ried a daughter of Lt.-Gov. Hazard of Newport. Capt. 
Joseph Lee had four children, including Abigail H., who 
married Sylvanus Gray, Esq., nephew of Hon. William 
Gray, Lt.-Gov. of Massachusetts, and left issue, and 
Jeremiah, a merchant of Boston, who died without issue 
in 1852. Mary Lee, daughter of Col. Jeremiah Lee, 
perhaps " the greatest beauty of her day ", married Hon. 
Nathaniel Tracy, A. M., A. A. S., 1751-1796, son of Capt. 
Patrick and Hannah (Gookin) Tracy, and descendant of 
Gov. Thomas Dudley, Gov. Simon Bradstreet, Maj.-Gen. 
Daniel Gookin, the famous Rev. John Cotton, Anne Hutch- 
inson, and Maj. Thomas Savage. (See The Tracy Family 
of Newburyport, and Nathaniel Tracy, Harvard, 1769, in 
the Harvard Graduates' Magazine for 1916, both by 
Thomas Amory Lee.) He graduated A. B. from Harvard 
in 1769, A. M. later, took a supplementary course at Yale, 
received an honorary A. M. at Princeton in 1773, trav- 
elled abroad, and went into partnership with his brother. 
Col. John Tracy, and brother-in-law, Hon. Jonathan Jack- 
son. He was perhaps the greatest merchant of the Rev- 
olution and certainly the greatest merchant of the Prov- 
ince of Massachusetts. He fitted out the first privateer of 
the Revolution, and had 110 merchant vessels, valued at 
$2,733,300, and 24 cruising ships which captured during 
the Revolution 120 vessels, which sold for $3,950,000.00. 
Besides this, he loaned the Government $167,000.00, 



THE ANCESTRY OF COL. WILLLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 7 

which was never repaid. He was a Representative, 1780, 
1781, 1782, State Senator, 1783, delegate to the Consti- 
tutional Convention, and a charter member of the Ameri- 
can Academy of Arts and Sciences. His portrait was 
painted three times by Copley or Stuart, Trumbull and 
Miss Hills, and his miniature painted twice, as was his 
wife's. Among their children was Hannah, who married 
Lieut. William Eaymond Lee, Jr., son of Col. William 
Raymond Lee, and they were the parents of Gen. William 
Raymond Lee, A. M., A. A. S., of whom later. 

Col. John Lee, 1716-1789, father of Col. William Ray- 
mond Lee, was a very prominent merchant, owned many 
ships, five or six houses, a number of slaves, much silver, 
etc. He frequently held the town offices of clerk, select- 
man and moderator, " for many years was a representa- 
tive to the Legislature, and one of the Municipal Magis- 
trates of the county," and a Justice of the Peace for 
many years. He was chairman of the local committee 
of Inspection, 1774, of the committee to raise money to 
support the Minute Men, 1775, of the local committee of 
correspondence, 1775, of the delegates to the Essex 
County Convention, 1774 and 1776, was appointed in 
1775 by the Provincial Congress to swear the soldiers in 
the county of Essex, was elected Colonel of the 6th Essex 
Regiment, January 27, 1775, marched to Salem, at the 
head of his battalion, to defend the munitions of war from 
Col. Leslie, and also to the relief of Beverly when the 
British sloop of war " Falcon " fired upon that town. He 
was a zealous patriot and took an active part in the peril- 
ous efforts which were made by citizens of Massachusetts 
to obtain a redress of wrongs they had endured as colo- 
nists of Great Britain. Col. Lee married, 1737, Joanna 
Raymond, 1715-1811, daughter of Captain Ebenezer and 
Joanna (Herrick) Raymond, granddaughter of Captain 
William Raymond, the Indian fighter, and of Captain 
Herrick, of Beverly. Col. Lee was the father of twelve 
children, including Captain John Lee, 1738-1812, who 
was a daring sailor of the Revolution, and was finally 
smuggled out of prison in England by Major General 
Lord Burgoyne, who had been befriended by Captain 
Lee's brother. Col. William Raymond Lee, when the latter 



8 THE ANCESTRY OF COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 

was in command of the captured Burgoyne and his army ; 
Joanna, who married, 1756, Captain Benjamin Kimball, 
Harvard, 1753, an officer of the Revolution ; Mary, who 
married, first, Major Joshua Orne, Jr., Esq., 1747-1785, 
Harvard, 1764, Justice of the Peace, deputy to the Gen- 
eral Court, member of the Provincial Congress, 1775, 
chairman of the Committee of Correspondence, 1775 and 
1776, a very prominent merchant and leading patriot of 
the Revolution, and married, second, Major Orne's half 
brother, Hon. Major General Azor Orne, Esq., of Marble- 
head, 1731-96, Justice of the Peace, Special Judge of 
Common Pleas, Deputy to the General Court, Councillor, 
and delegate to the Essex County Congress and the Mas- 
sachusetts Provincial Congress, elected delegate to the old 
Continental Congress of 1774, member of the famous 
Committee of Safety and Supplies, Colonel of the Marble- 
head Regiment before the Revolution, and elected Second 
Major-General of the Massachusetts Militia by the Gen- 
eral Court of 1775 ; he was one of the most prominent 
patriots of the Revolution (See the Orne Family of Mar- 
blehead, by Thomas Amory Lee) ; Annis, who married 
Major John Pulling, Jr., of the Revolution, who hung the 
lanterns in Christ Church belfry for Col. Paul Revere's 
famous ride. Their granddaughter, Annis, married Rev. 
Wm. Henry Furness, D. D., LL. D., father of Horace How- 
ard Furness, Ph. D., L. H. D., LL. D., Litt. D., the gre^it 
Shakespearian scholar ; Col. William Raymond Lee, the 
subject of this sketch ; Betsey, who married the Rev. 
Daniel Johnston, Harvard, 1767, one of the fighting chap- 
lains of the Continental Army ; Nabby, who married 
Captain Stephen Sewall, merchant of Marblehead and 
Boston, and close relative of Chief Justice Samuel Sewall, 
LL. D., and of the Hon. Jonathan Mitchell Sewall ; he 
served as a captain in Col. Lee's Regiment, 1777-78, and 
later as aide-de-camp to Gen. Glover ; Martha, who may 
have been engaged to Major-General William Alexander, 
Lord Sterling, of the Continental Army, and who mar- 
ried, first, 1776, Capt. Jeremiah Hibbert, of Marblehead, 
a noted sailor of the Revolution, and married, second. 
Major General John Fiske of Salem, a famous sailor of 
the Revolution, rich merchant, Major-General of Militia, 



THE ANCESTRY OF COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 9 

and member of the Committee of Safety (The late 
Frederick Ward Putnam, A. M., Sc. D., the distinguished 
scientist, was a descendant) ; Fanny, who married, first, 
Captain John Glover, Jr., of the Revolution, eldest 
son of Brig.-Genl. John Glover, of the Continental 
Army, and who married, second, Elkanah Watson, Esq. 
of Freetown ; Lucy, who married Col. Marston Watson, 
Esq., grandson of the " Honorable Col. Judge Benj. Mars- 
ton, Esq.", an ofiBcer of the Revolution, a great merchant 
of Boston, and one of the first members of the Massachu- 
setts Historical Society, father of the Rev. John Lee 
Watson, S. T. D., D. D". 

For further information as to the family, see " The Lee 
Family of Marblehead," by Thomas Amory Lee, in vols. 
52 and 53 of the Essex Institute Historical Collections. 



COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 



Col. William Raymond Lee, son of Col. John 
and Joanna (Raymond) Lee, was born in Manchester, 
July 30, 1745, and died in Salem, Oct. 26, 1824. He 
married, at Marblehead, April 3, 1770, Mary, daughter of 
Dr. Joseph* and Hannah (Swett) Lemon, or Lemmon, 
baptized Nov. 17, 1745 ; died July 6, 1825, aged 80 
years. Mary Lemon was the favorite niece of Madam 
Martha Lee, and Col. Wm. R. Lee the favorite nephew of 
Col. Jeremiah Lee. Dr. Lemon graduated from Harvard 
in 1735, and was a prominent physician. After com- 
pleting his academic education, William R. Lee entered 
the counting room of his uncle. Col. Jeremiah Lee. After 
he had completed his commercial education, he was em- 
ployed by his uncle to take active charge of his extensive 
business, and continued its manager until the Revolution. 
While so engaged he passed much of his time at Nan- 
tucket, New Bedford, etc., in purchasing oil for the Euro- 
pean market. f At the request of Col. Jeremiah Lee, 
young Lee and his wife spent their first year of married 
life as guests of Col. Jeremiah and Mistress Martha Lee. 
Desiring to live in less splendor, they then moved a few 
yards up the hill opposite the training field to the com- 
modious mansion of Samuel Lee, Esq., his grandfather. 

Foreseeing the Revolution, General Glover, Colonel 
Lee, Lieut. Col. Johonnot, Adjutant Gibbs and other gen- 
tlemen of the town formed a military association to ac- 

*There is a Copley portrait of Dr. Lemon in a huge wig, now in 
New Orleans, and owned by Shannon Davis, Esq. It was formerly 
owned by Col. Lee's daughter, Mrs. Willard of Boston. 

tCurwen's Journal, p. 579. 

(10) 




COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE 

I 745 - 1824 

From the portrait by Stone, owned by Thomas Amory Lee, 



COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 11 

quire a knowledge of tactics and discipline in order to be 
qualified to take an active part in the field should hostili- 
ties commence. As early as 1770, Col. Timothy Picker- 
ing was engaged to give a course in military theory, a 
fencing master taught them the use of the small and 
broad sword, and a man who had served as a sergeant in 
the British army taught them the manual exercise and 
company and battalion movements. Colonel Lee formed 
a company of aitillery early in 1775, of which he was the 
commander. 

" In Committee of Safety [which had been authorized 
to appoint field officers], Cambridge, April 29, 1775, . . . 
Capt. Foster is appointed to command one of the compa- 
nies of artillery and ordered to enlist said company. 
Capt. William Lee, of Marblehead, has been sent for to 
take the command of another. . . . Joseph Warren, 
Chairman." 

Two days after the affray at Lexington, Marblehead 
had organized a regiment of ten companies, under the 
command of Colonel, later General, John Glover. This 
regiment is variously known as Glover's, the Marine, the 
Amphibious, the 2l8t U. C. Regiment, the 14th Conti- 
nental, and the Marblehead regiment. It was one of the 
most famous of the Revolution. Its history has been 
written. " Few regiments in the entire Continental Army 
were in more important engagements or rendered greater 
service. It has the added distinction of being one of the 
first to be organized.* Col. W. R. Lee was senior cap- 
tain, his first cousin Joseph Lee, a captain, his second 
cousin Seward Lee, a lieutenant, his brothers-in-law, John 
Glover, Jr. and Marston Watson, captains, and his rela- 
tive by marriage, Joshua Orne, 1st lieutenant. On June 
23, 1775 : " Ordered, That the officers in Col. Glover's 
regiment be commissioned, except Capt. Lee and his 
subalterns."! Colonel Lee had not yet decided whether 
to remain at the head of his artillery company or to go 
with Glover. He went with Glover, however, and the 
regiment was in Cambridge on June 22, 1775, and joined 
the Provincial army under General Ward. The regi- 

•Glover's Marblehead Regt., F. A. Gardner, p. 1. 
t Journal of Mass. Provincial Congress, p. 377. 



12 COL. "WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 

mental uniform " consisted of a blue round jacket and 
trousers, trimmed with leather buttons." Col. W. R. 
Lee was early promoted to be major of this regiment. 

On Jan. 1, 1776, Glover's regiment was reenlisted as the 
14th Continental, and Lee was at that time major and 
played his part in the various battles in which the regi- 
ment was engaged. The regiment manned the vessels 
and rafts on the night of Aug. 28, 1776, and ferried 
Washington's army across the river after the disastrous 
battle of Long Island, and thus saved the army. On Sept. 
4, 1776, Colonel Glover took command of General Clin- 
ton's brigade, and Colonel Lee was commissioned brigade 
major, an office of much responsibility, as the General 
Orders show. " The Brigadier Generals are to select 
capable, active and spirited persons to act as Brigade 
Majors, who will be allowed pay for their services.* The 
regiment was in the battle of Oct. 18, 1776, and an eye 
witness, writing on Oct. 23d, says that Major Lee " be- 
haved gallantly."! The regiment is best remembered for 
its noble service on Dec. 25, 1776, when it ferried Wash- 
ington and his army across the Delaware river through 
swiftly floating ice on their way to the victory of Trenton. 

At this time Colonel Lee had many meetings with 
Major-Gen. Charles Lee, the son of Gen. John Lee of 
Dern Hall, Cheshire, and the last scion in the male line of 
the eldest branch of the ancient and distinguished family 
of Lea of Dern Hall, to which it is supposed that Colonel 
Lee's immigrant ancestor Henry Lee belonged. "Gen. 
Lee was not only slovenly in his dress and rude in man- 
ner, but remarkable for his sordid parsimony. Col. Lee 
often remarked on these inhospitable and repulsive pecu- 
liarities of an officer of his superior education, large ser- 
vice in European armies, and constant intercourse with 
the first gentlemen in every country in which he had re- 
sided. Col. Lee stated that as acting brigade major of 
the brigade which Col. Glover temporarily commanded, 
he was obliged daily as senior officer in General Lee's 
division, and at all hours to visit the headquarters of Gen. 

*Col. W. R. Lee's Note Book of the Revolution, owned by Mass. 
Hist. Society. 
tRoads' Marblehead, p. 170, and Freeman's Journal, Nov. 12, 1776. 



COL. WILLIAM KAYMOND LEE. 13 

Lee. On one occasion, happening to call just as the Gen- 
eral was sitting down to dinner, he observed, ' Major Lee, 
why the devil do you never dine, breakfast, or sup with 
me ; you are frequently at my quarters, either in the 
morning, at the dinner hour, or in the evening.' The 
major replied, ' General, you have never invited me to 
take a seat at your table.' ' That is just like all you 
damned Yankees ; never stand on ceremony, but in future, 
whenever you come into my quarters at the time I am 
taking my meals, sit down and call on the servant for a 
plate.' 'Very well, sir,' said the major, 'I am very 
much obliged to you and will avail myself of your polite- 
ness now,' and placing a chair at the table, requested that 
a plate might be brought to him. The General was as- 
tonished, looked unutterable things, and never again 
hinted that Major Lee's company would be agreeable. 
This the major well understood, and therefore was glad 
of an opportunity to try the character of an officer who 
had at times the appearance of being hospitable and gen- 
erous, but still never wished the sincerity of his proffered 
kindness tested. 

" But General Lee's inconceivable selfishness was more 
completely developed while at White Plains, where he 
lodged in a small house near a road which General Wash- 
ington was obliged to pass when on reconnoitering excur- 
sions, and one day returning with his staff, they called 
and took dinner. They had no sooner gone than General 
Lee observed to his aid, ' You must look me out another 
place, for I shall have Washington and all his puppies 
continually calling on me, and they will eat me up.' The 
next day General Lee, seeing Washington out upon like 
duty, and supposing that he should have another visit, 
ordered his servant to write with chalk upon the door, 
' No victuals dressed here to-day.' When the company 
approached and saw this notice, they laughed heartily, 
and pushed off with much good humor for their own 
table, without a thought of resenting the habitual oddity 
of the man."* 

On Jan. 1, 1777, Major Lee was promoted to be colonel 

♦Dearborn's Life of CoL W. K. Lee (MS.), pp. 108-110. 



14 COL. WHiLIAM EASMOND LEE. 

of " Lee's Additional Regiment", and at once returned to 
Massacliusetts to recruit his regiment. Many of the 
officers and men were from Marblehead, among them 
being Joseph Swasey, major, Joseph Stacey, quartermas- 
ter, Joshua Orne, captain, and Col. Lee's brother-in-law, 
Stephen Sewall, captain. On Oct. 2, 1777, Colonel Lee 
was ordered to Philadelphia to join the army, but the 
news of Lord Burgoyne's surrender to General Gates on 
Oct, 13, at Saratoga, having been received, he was or- 
dered to return to Cambridge to guard the British army. 
" The prisoners arrived at Cambridge on the 7th of No- 
vember, and were received by Colonel Lee, as command- 
ing officer of the cantonment. It was indeed a remark- 
able coincidence. On the very ground where, two years 
before, the Marblehead regiment had first appeared in 
arms in the Continental service. General Glover now de- 
livered an army to the care of Colonel Lee. And what 
a change had taken place during the interval in the posi- 
tions of these heroic citizens of Marblehead When, in 
1775, the regiment left the town, one was its colonel and 
the other the captain of one of its companies. Now, the 
colonel had become a general, and the captain, having 
been promoted from one grade after another to that of 
colonel, had been offered the position of adjutant-general 
of the American army. Further comment is unnecessary. 
The responsible positions to which they had been pro- 
moted is sufficient evidence of their heroism and of the 
distinguished services which they had rendered to their 
country."* 

Shortly thereafter, Colonel Henley took command at 
Cambridge, but having pricked with his sword an insolent 
British soldier, he was placed under arrest, and Colonel 
Lee again took command. Colonel Lee had his own 
troubles, as the following letters to Major-General Heath 
show : — 

Friday Evening, 7 o'clock. 
Sir. 

This moment a Subaltern from the Hill Informs me 
that the British Soldiery behave in a most scandalous 

♦Roads' Marblehead, pp. 184 and 185. 



COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 15 

manner by pulling down Barns and other Buildings and 
Abusing Guards — Sentries and Swearing they will have 
fire wood at all Hazards. In consequence of which I have 
ordered the Guards all doubled and the Regiment ready 
«,t a moment's warning, and unless there is wood provided 
immediately, it will be attended with bad Consequences. 
Should be glad of your particular Orders by the bearer 
and am with respect, 

" Your most Obd. Hum. Ser. 

Will R. Lee, Comman"^ 
" To the Hon. Maj. Gen. Heath." 

General Heath's reply has not been preserved. 

" Cambridge, Nov. 1st, 1777. 
«« Sir. 

♦* Mr. Abel Pierce (Foreman of the Smiths) has ap- 
ply'd for help out of the Regiments of Militia ; I have 
examined Brooks's and find two soldiers who are willing 
to go into the Works (provided they can be allowed the 
customary wages that the other Workmen have at the 
same business). Shall wait your directions thereon. 

" The officers are exceeding uneasy with respect to 
their Quarters, as the Cold Weather approaches fast, and 
but very little wood renders their situation very disagree- 
able. Should be glad to have the answers to the Ques- 
tions tomorrow, as they are sanguine to know. This 
morning I Rode Round the lines and found the Field 
Officers and some others Walking by their Barracks to 
keep themselves from Perishing with Cold, not one stick 
of Wood to put into the Fire, and if some other method 
cannot be found to supply them, they must either Perish 
or burn all the Publick Buildings. And am with Respect, 
Sir your most obdt Ser't, 

Will R. Lee. 
■"To the Honorable Maj. Genl. Heath." 

Colonel Lee was ordered to take command at Cam- 
bridge by the following letter from Gen. Heath : — 

" Head Quarters, Boston, Nov. 7, 1777. 
-" Sir,— 

" You will immediately repair to Cambridge and take 
the command of all the troops doing duty there, whether 



16 COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 

continental or militia, in continental service ; you will 
order such guards to be mounted this night as you may 
think necessary for the safety of the place and keeping 
the prisoners in proper order. In short, you will exercise 
your best discretion in establishing order and regularity 
at the post. The Deputy Adjutant General will acquaint 
you with the orders already issued, others shall be com- 
municated to you as occasion may require. The soldiery 
are to be kept strictly within the limits assigned to them, 
and the officers to their quarters untill they have given 
their paroles."* 

General Burgoyne having charged Colonel Henley 
" with barbarous and wanton conduct and intentional 
murder," a court martial was ordered, of which Gen. 
Glover was president and Col. Lee a member. The trial 
lasted more than twenty days, and after a thorough inves- 
tigation the court decided that the charges against Col.Hen- 
ley were " considered not supported. "f General Burgoyne 
was a constant attendant at and interested participant in 
the trial, and at times acted in a very disrespectful man- 
ner. He made a speech during the trial in the course of 
which he dwelt at length upon the unfortunate position 
of the officers and soldiers of his army, and the sanguine 
expectations which had been indulged " of their being 
received with all that magnanimity and kindness which 
was due them as prisoners of war. We were led into 
these delusive hopes by the very honorable treatment 
shown us by General Gates ; by that we received from 
you, Mr. President [Gen. Glover] when you conducted us 
upon the march, and by that we afterwards found from 
the worthy member of the Court near you [Col. Lee], 
who had the immediate command in this district upon our 
arrival, and to whom, most happily for us, the command 
is now again devolved.":}: 

One of the British prisoners, Lieutenant Anbury, wrote 
an account of his ''Travels in America," in which he 
reviews the court martial and pays the following tribute 
to Colonel Lee : 

*Mass. Hist. Colls., 7th series, vol. 4, p. 176. 

t American State Trials, 1914: Trial of Col. Henley. 

IRoads' Marblehead, p. 187. 



COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 17 

" In consequence of this acquittal, Colonel Henley 
reassumed his command the next day, but merel}'' for 
form's sake, as the next week Col. Lee took the command, 
which he had when we first arrived. Affairs are much 
better regulated, everything is now in perfect tranquillity, 
and a good understanding has taken place between our 
troops and the Americans. Colonel Lee has remedied one 
great evil, which was compelling our soldiers to purchase 
all their provisions at two stores in the barracks, and not 
permitting them to send to Cambridge, where they were 
much cheaper. Passes have been granted for a sergeant 
and a certain number of men to go out and purchase pro- 
visions, by which means the stores caiinot impose on the 
troops ; and they now sell their commodities at the mar- 
ket price."* 

The office of Adjutant General of Washington's army 
having become vacant. Colonel Lee was offered the dis- 
tinguished position by Washington, but declined it, pre- 
ferring to remain in the field at the head of a regiment. 
Washington wrote to Richard Henry Lee in the Conti- 
nental Congress that Col. Lee " is an active, spirited man, 
a good disciplinarian." He also said that Col. Lee had 
*' deservedly acquired the reputation of a good officer," 
and that he " holds a high place in my esteem." 

Many of the letters between Washington and Heath 
in 1777 mention Colonel Lee. One of the services which 
he rendered at this time is described in the correspondence 
between Washington and Heath. General Heath writes 
from Boston, June 7, 1777: "The cartouche boxes 
which have commonly been made for the army are made 
of the most miserable materials, and in case of storms 
commonly serve only to waste the ammunition which is 
carried in them. Colonel Lee, who undoubtedly may be 
called a martinet in military matters, is desirous that the 
boxes for the three regiments [Henley's, Jackson's and 
Lee's], which are to be posted here, may be made of bet- 
ter leather. He has brought me a sample. The first 
expence will be considerably more than that of the present 
model, but in a long run they will be much the cheapest, 

•Roads' Marblehead, p. 187. 



18 COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 

as they will with proper care last the war, whilst the other 
will scarcely last one campaign." 

Gen. Washington replied on June 23, 1777 : "I have 
long found the ill effects of the wretched cartouch boxes 
generally in use, and I am very glad to find that Colonel 
Lee has found out a kind that will preserve the ammuni- 
tion. You will direct him to have them made, and I should 
be glad of one by way of pattern." To which General 
Heath made the following answer on July 7, 1777 : 
'< I have directed that the carteridge boxes be made as 
soon as possible for Col° Lee's and Jackson's regt. ; one of 
the first that is finished shall be sent to your Excellency."* 

As Marblehead was so continually exposed to the at- 
tack of the enemy, rendering the situation of his family 
most unsecure, and as his business as a merchant had been 
greatly affected and required his personal superintendence 
to prevent the entire destruction of his property, which 
consisted very largely of ships and merchandise. Colonel 
Lee considered it his duty to resign his commission and 
very reluctantly wrote a letterf to General Heath re- 
questing leave to resign, which was granted by Congress 
on June 21, 1778, altho he did not receive his dis- 
charge until some time later, as he took part in the expe- 
dition under the Marquis de la Fayette against Rhode 
Island. On April 8, 1778, Washington wrote to Heath 
from Valley Forge : " Finding that Colonel Lee cannot 
be prevailed upon to remain in the service, I have repre- 
sented his case and that of Major Swazee [of Lee's Reg't] 
to Congress and expect in m}^ next to inform you of their 
acceptance of their commissions." 

Heath wrote to Washington, Aug. 12, 1778, from 
Boston : " I some time since received a resolve of Con- 
gress accepting the resignations of CoP Lee and Major 
Swasey's commissions — the latter I do myself the honor 
to enclose. CoP Lee is gone on the expedition to Rhode 
Island, and I believe commands the boats." Colonel Lee 
was not able to get away until nearly the first of October, 
and thus served three and a half years in the Revolution. 

*Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. 44, p. 62, and vol. 4 of 7th series, pp. 104 
and 124-6. 

tPapers of Continental Congress, No. 78, XIV, folio 189. 



COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 19 

Upon resuming his business, Colonel Lee soon became 
one of the most active and prominent participants in 
counteracting the efforts of the enemy to destroy the 
coast fishing and foreign navigation and trade, and sent 
out a number of armed " Letters of Marque " until the 
end of the war, among others the well known ♦* Thorn." 

After the war was over a number of loyalists returned 
to Marblehead, among them the Robie family, one of 
wealth and exceptional culture at that day, but especially 
detested, as Mr. Robie was a very active loyalist, and Mrs. 
Robie, while on the way to the ship which took them to 
Halifax at the beginning of the war, had given way to 
temper and uttered the following wish : " I hope that I 
shall live to return to find this wicked rebellion arrested 
and see the streets of Marblehead so deep with rebel 
blood that a long boat might be rowed through them."* 
On learning of their return the people swore vengeance 
upon them and prepared to tar and feather them, but 
Colonel Lee, with a few friends, boarded the vessel 
after dark and smuggled the family ashore and into the 
home of one of their party, where they were guarded 
until the excitement died. 

On the return of peace the usual business of the town 
was re-established, and the basis of the whole trade being 
the fisheries. Colonel Lee entered largely into it and 
fitted out twelve vessels. He was also extensively en- 
gaged in foreign commerce and became the head of a 
well known mercantile house, Will. R. Lee & Co., taking 
into partnership with him his sons, William Lee, Lieut. 
William Raymond Lee, jr., and Capt. Joseph Lemon Lee. 
The firm employed the noted Commodore Samuel Tucker, 
-of the Revolution, as one of their commanders, and 
the magnitude of their operations may be seen from the 
fact that their account at one time with Tucker alone was 
over X50,000. 

" As Colonel Lee was highly respected for his public 
spirit, energy, intelligence and philanthropy, he was for 
many years one of the chief municipal officers of the 
town, and ever foremost in projecting and carrying into 

•Dearborn's Life of Col. Wm. R. Lee (MS.), pp. 178-180. 



20 COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 

eifect all such measures as were deemed best calculated 
to relieve the indigent, extend the means of education to 
all classes of children, and promote the industry, happi- 
ness and prosperity of the whole people."* Colonel Lee, 
Joshua Orne, Esq., Rev. WilHam Whitwell, the Rev. 
Isaac Story (uncle of the distinguished Joseph Story of 
the U. S. Supreme Court), and Samuel Sewall, LL. D,, 
A. A. S., distinguished as Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Judicial Court of Massachusetts, were trustees of the 
public schools. Colonel Lee also was one of the " bene- 
factors" of the Marblehead Academy in 1788. 

When war with France was imminent, in 1798, "the 
citizens of Marblehead sprang to arms for the defense of 
their country. The veterans of the Revolution, though 
exempt from military duty, formed themselves into a 
company and were armed and equipped at their own ex- 
pense. Their commander was the intrepid Col. William 
R. Lee, under whose direction they were disciplined once 
a fortnight in order to be in readiness to act at a moment's 
notice."! 

Among Colonel Lee's guests in 1791, at his beautiful 
mansion on the training field hill, was the Rev. William 
Bentley of Salem, who gives in his Diary an admirable 
description of Colonel Lee and his position in society. 
The day, Sept. 16, had been appointed for the review in 
Marblehead, and Dr. Bentley went with a young French 
friend. Col. John Tracy of Newburyport and Gen. John 
Fiske of Salem, kinsmen of Col. Lee, reviewed the troops. 
" Col. Lee, whose elegant House is on the parade, gave us 
a Collation at 4 o'clock in a very polite & generous man- 
ner. ... At Sundown I was introduced into the family 
of Col. Lee at Tea. He has eight children and a very 
obliging wife. This gentleman has a very excellent per- 
son and was highly esteemed in the Continental Army 
and particularly by our illustrious Commander in Chief. 
His want of promotion in the militia depends on himself 
... I went into the cupola upon the elevated seat of 
Col. Lee to enjoy the extensive view he has from that 

♦Dearborn's Life of Col. Wm. R. Lee (MS.), p. 181. 
tRoads' Marblehead, p. 153. 
JRoads' Marblehead, p. 264. 



COL. WILLIAM KAYMOND LEE. 21 

convenient place, but the air was not sufficiently clear for 
the purpose. I could see enough to believe the repre- 
sentation jnst. They have a seven foot Telescope in fine 
order, and they declare that they can see the people pass 
to church in the streets of Salem on Sunday, such a com- 
mand have they of the Town. I observed that the Bea- 
con on Baker's Island looks directly up their Harbour."* 
Dr. Bentley later says that " Col. Lee presided with great 
success " at the Fourth of July celebration, 1802. 

Colonel Lee was a selectman of Marblehead from 1791 
to 1797, and Representative to the General Court in 1780, 
1785, and 1792. 

As did many of his name, Colonel Lee believed that a 
full stomach was a preventive of evil, and accordingly, 
"annually on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's 
Day, he made it a principle to purchase large quantities 
of fresh beef, pork, mutton and poultry, which, with 
flour, butter, sugar, tea, spices, and fuel, were distributed 
by his benevolent and excellent wife to the poor inhab- 
itants of the town. The most needy and deserving being 
all known, they were informed at what hour to come and 
receive their several presents, that they might be enabled 
to join in the general festivities of those New England 
holy days. But at all times of the year his doors were 
ever open to the sick and the needy, and such were his 
liberal attentions to all who required assistance that he 
was honored and respected by his fellow townsmen for his 
humane, charitable and ever kind attentions to the wants 
and troubles of his townspeople. Nor was his lady less 
appreciated and beloved for a like admirable disposition 
and the same exalted Christian virtues. Many a mother 
and father and many a child experienced their munificent 
beneficence when sickness, poverty, and the rigors of 
winter brought want, affliction and sorrow into their 
homes."f 

Colonel Lee invested a large amoun of money in the 
purchase of Georgia lands through the New England 
Georgia Land Co., which had bought a large portion of 
the present State of Mississippi from several grantees of 

»Dr. Bentley's Diary, vol. I, p. 303. 

tDearborn's Life of Col. Wm. R. Lee (MS.), pp. 181-182. 



22 COL. WILLIAM KAYMOND LEE. 

the State, and had at one time about 25,000 acres of this 
land, which was regarded as a good investment. Unfor- 
tunately for the investors, the State of Georgia, at the 
next session of its Legislature, declared the sale fraudu- 
lent, and therefore null and void, and ceded the whole 
tract to the United States in 1802. At almost the same 
time several of the consignees to whom his cargoes were 
consigned abroad failed, and Colonel Lee lost his cargoes,, 
and about the same time the cruisers of France captured 
several of his vessels during that period when the rights^ 
of neutrals were not respected. He thus lost many 
thousands of dollars in a few months, and accordingly re- 
tired from business, and on the 31st of July, 1802, re- 
ceived the appointment of Collector of the Port of the 
District of Salem and Beverly, which office he held until 
his death over twenty years later. 

Colonel Lee appears frequently hereafter in Dr. Bent- 
ley's Diary, as mediating in 1803 with Judge Sewall in 
order to reduce the sentence of thirty days' imprisonment 
passed on Mr. Carlton, the printer, for insinuating that 
Col. Timothy Pickering might have received hush money 
from Liston, the English minister, etc. In 1805 hia 
house was on fire, and in 1807 a store on his wharf in 
Marblehead burned, causing several thousand dollars 
damage to sails, rigging, etc. On July 10, 1807, Colonel 
Lee was moderator of a meeting which passed several 
resolves on the subject of the British aggressions. In 
1808, April 1, Colonel Lee was chairman of a Republican 
caucus, and Dr. Bentley notes that " the utmost republican 
displeasure falls upon Col. Pickering. The history of his 
military character is exposed in his cowardice at Lexing- 
ton," etc. Colonel Lee fell under Dr. Bentley's wrath 
for venturing to disagree with him in 1808 on the subject 
of the proper incumbent for the surveyorship of the port. 
But a short time later Colonel Lee, Esquire Dearborn* and 
Dr. Little dined with Dr. Bentley to meet Mr. Ogilvie, the 
orator, who sustained his reputation by his conversation. 

In 1806,Marblehead was much exercised over the alleged 
refusal of Capt. Ben, Ireson of Marblehead to rescue a ves- 

*Gen. H. A. S. Dearborn, son-in-law of Colonel Lee. 



COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 28 

sel in distress. It has been said that Ireson was not to blame, 
as the gale rendered rescue impo8sible,that he told the crew 
to lie by, went below to sleep, that the crew disobeyed him, 
left the wreck, and then put the blame on their skipper. 
However, they were rescued by a vessel which .reached 
the home port before Ireson did. His refusal caused a 
great outburst of indignation, and he was tarred and 
feathered upon his arrival, placed in a dory, and carried 
by a mob of 500 on the road to Beverly, where he was 
to be left. The Salem authorities feared a general riot 
should they enter the town, and asked Col. Lee to meet 
the procession. Col. Lee at once acquiesced and met the 
procession at ten o'clock near the Salem line. He asked 
the leaders to halt the march and then addressed them, asking 
them to return to Marblehead, as the people of Salem were 
very desirous that the quietude of that town should not be 
disturbed at that late hour of the night, and remarking that 
he was confident they were such true sons of Marblehead 
that they would not persist in proceeding further. The 
mob gave three cheers and at once returned home. Whittier 
has caused the incident to be remembered by his poem. 

Colonel Lee died October 26, 1824, and the following 
obituary appeared in the Salem newspapers : — 

** In this town, on Tuesday morning last, William R. 
Lee, Esquire, age 80, Collector for this District. itCol. 
Lee was a native of Manchester, but removed in early life 
to Marblehead, where he was a distinguished merchant. 
In the commencement of the Revolutionary War he was 
appointed a major in Col. Glover's regiment, and afterwards 
Lieut. Colonel. He was esteemed as a brave and skillful 
officer, and enjoyed in a high degree the confidence of 
Washington and the other worthies of the Revolution. 
In 1801 he was appointed by President Jefferson to the 
office of Collector for the District of Salem and Beverly, 
which he filled with great dignity and fidelity till his death, 
enjoying the universal respect of his fellow citizens, who 
honored him as a gallant soldier in the cause of Liberty, 
the patriotic citizen and accomplished gentleman. His 
remains are to be entombed at Marblehead this evening." 

Madame Lee did not long survive her husband, and died 
at Salem on July 6, 1825, aged 80 years. " She was an 



24 COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LBB. 

estimable lady. As a wife and mother she was unrivalled. 
Generous, iiind, and beneficent, no one came to her door 
for aid that had not cause to thank and bless her as they 

went away."* 

Colonel Lee's beautiful Marblehead home has been 
noticed in print many times. It was here that his father 
died in 1789, and his grandfather, Justice Samuel Lee, 
lived and died in 1753, and in this house Col. Jeremiah 
Lee was married. The older part of the house was built 
about 1745, probably by Samuel Lee, Esq., but the mod- 
ern house was built about twenty years later, probably by 
Capt. Samuel Lee. The material was brought from Eng- 
land, apparently in one of "King" Hooper's ships. At 
the same time the two giant lindens standing on either 
side of the door were brought from England. They later 
became famous, as the subject of a poem written by 
Longfellow during one of his visits to the house. The 
wall paper in one of the front rooms is almost unique in 
America, being a representation of the historic " Pilgrim- 
age to the Mosque of Omar." The most distinguished 
guest of the mansion was Washington, who, when he 
came to Marblehead in 1789, visited Colonel Lee and 
promised to send him a likeness of Mount Vernon on his 
return to Virginia. The gift is still preserved in the 
family and owned by Raymond Lee Newcomb, the natu- 
rahst of the ill-fated " Jeannette " expedition to the 
North Pole, a great-grandson of Colonel Lee. It is 
painted on a rectangular background of glass in gold leaf 
and sepia, and is interesting artistically as well as histori- 
cally. « 1 r> 

Before leaving for the front at the time of the Kevo 
lution, Colonel Lee freed his slaves, as he deemed it uu 
just to fight for liberty and at the same time own human 
beings. 

An excellent portrait of Colonel Lee in Revolutionary 
costume, wearing the eagle of the Society of the Cincin- 
nati, is now owned by Thomas Araory Lee, a great-great- 
grandson, and a very good )niniature by Hancock is in the 
museum of the Essex Institute. His commissions as Ma- 

♦Dearborn's Life of Col. Wm. R. Lee (MS.), p. 187. 




THE COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE MANSION, MARBLEHEAD 

Now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Waldo P. Ballard. 



COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 25 

jor and Colonel, signed by John Hancock, and his orderly 
books of the Revolution and a roll of his regiment were 
deposited by his grandson, Gen. William Raymond Lee, 
with the Massachusetts Historical Society. 

Gen. Henry A. S. Dearborn wrote a "Life of Col.William 
Raymond Lee," in two volumes, which he completed in 
1843. It has never been published. It contains matters of 
considerable historical interest, including sidelights on the 
characters of Gen. Rufus Putnam and Gen. Charles Lee. 
General Dearborn's wife, Hannah Sw^ett Lee, wrote a 
small manuscript of some forty pages entitled the "Lee 
Genealogy," mostly concerned with the Lees of Lea Hall, 
from whom it is supposed that the Marblehead Lees take 
their descent, and to which Gen. George Sears Greene of 
New York made additions. 

Colonel Lee's name was given to one of the streets in 
Marblehead which led down to one of his wharfs. The 
first steam fire engine in Marblehead, purchased in 1880, 
also was named the " Col. William R. Lee." Old Fort 
Lee of Salem was named after Col. Lee. He was an 
original member of the Society of the Cincinnati, an 
officer of the Freemasons, and an officer of St. Michael's 
Episcopal Church. 

Children, all born in Marblehead : — 

William, b. Nov, 29, 1770 ; d. Feb, 2, 1S51, 

Maky, b. July 25, 1772; d, in Boston about 1850; m, (int,). 
March 8, 1800, Capt, Thomas Gary Willard, who d, in 1801. 
He was a master mariner and merchant. Child: (1) Ann 
Elizabeth Lee, b. Feb, 5, 1801; d, in Boston, Dec. 11, 1885. 
She lived with her mother in Roxbury, close to her cousin 
Gen, W. R. Lee. She inherited the beautiful Lee silver 
from her grandfather. Colonel Lee, and gave it to Elizabeth 
Amory Lee, dau. of Gen. William Raymond Lee. 

William Raymond, b. Aug. 19, 1774; d. Sept. 7, 1861, 

John, b, July 6, 1778; lost at sea, Dec, 1799, unm. He was a 
handsome man, and a fine miniature of him, apparently by 
Miss Goodrich, is owned by Miss Sarah Dearborn of Bos- 
ton, granddaughter of Gen. H, A. S, Dearborn, 

Annis (twin), b. Sept, 26, 1780; d. Sept, 24, 1793, unm. 

Joseph (twin), b. Sept. 26, 1780; d, Oct, 8, 1780. 

JIlizabeth Lemon, b. Oct, 17, 1781, 



26 COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 

Hannah Swett, b. Oct. 6, 1783; d. Oct. 10, 1868, in Boston; m. 
May 5, 1807, Gen. Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn,* 
A. M., A. A. S., M. C, President of the Society of the Cin- 
cinnati and member of the Mass. Hist. Soc'y, son of Major- 
General Henry Dearborn, M. C, Sec'y of War, b. March 3, 
1783, at Exeter, N. H., d. July 29, 1851, at Portland, Me. 
Stuart painted seven portraits of the two Generals Dear- 
born and their wives. Miss Sarah Dearborn and Miss Mary 
Clapp of Portland own miniatures and portraits. Children: 
(1) Julia Margaretta, b. Jan. 22, 1808, d. 1867, m. Jan. 23, 
1834, Col. Asa W. H. Clapp, M. C, of Portland; (2) Henry 
George Raleigh, b. June 22, 1809, d. 1884, m. July 6, 1840, 
Sarah Thurston; (3) William Lee. b. June 12, 1812, d. 1875s 
m. Mary Abby Bacon. Their son William Henry represents 
Gen. Dearborn in the Society of the Cincinnati. 

Joseph Lemon, b. May 10, 1785; d. Dec. 21, 1819. 

•See Appleton's Biographical Dictionary; Drake's Memorials of 
the Society of the Cincinnati, pp. 291-4. 




HON. HENRY A. S. DEARBORN 
From the miniature by Ames, now owned by Miss Sarah Dearborn. 



DESCENDANTS OF COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND 

LEE. 



William Lee, 1770-1851, eldest son of Col. William 
Raymond Lee, was a merchant and member of the firm of 
Will R. Lee & Co. Later he served as an officer in the 
custom house at Salem, under his father the Collector. 
He was married three times and had fourteen children. 
The late Joseph Lemon Lee of Salem was his last surviv- 
ing son. Mrs. Cyrus Sargent of Cambridge, wife of Cyrus 
Sargent, A. B., LL. B., attorney of Boston, is a descend- 
ant. His daughter Caroline married Benjamin Saunders 
Wheeler, second cousin of Benjamin Ide Wheeler, Ph.D., 
LL. D., President of the University of California. Ray- 
mond Lee Newcomb of Salem, the former naturalist of the 
ill-fated " Jeannette " Arctic expedition, is also a descend- 
ant. A fine miniature of William Lee was destroyed in 
the Salem fire of 1914. Raymond Lee Newcomb owns a 
beautiful silhouette of Mrs. Lee. 

Capt. Joseph Lemon Lee, 1785-1818, the youngest 
child of Col. Lee, was a master mariner and in command 
of a ship at the age of fifteen. He was drowned off the 
coast of France, and his brother-in-law, Hon. Henry A. S. 
Dearborn, had a monument erected over his grave. He 
married Catherine Fogarty of Salem, and their one child, 
Mary Lemon, married Jeremiah Etheridge of Boston. 
Capt. Lee's grand-daughter. Miss Cora Lee Etheridge of 
Boston, owns his portrait, painted when in Holland about 
1805, and also his miniature. 

Lieut. William Raymond Lee, Jr., 1774-1861, was a 
merchant of Salem and Boston, and member of the firm 
of Will R. Lee & Co. He removed to Boston about 1813, 
and lived in the old brick mansion later occupied by Hon. 
Marshall P. Wilder. His road-horse, " Rat ", won a 
famous trotting race from Mr. Hemenway's "Boston Blue" 
about 1819, making the fastest time then ever having 

(27) 



28 DESCENDANTS OF COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 

been recorded. During the War of 1812, he was Aide- 
de-Camp on the staff of Maj.-Gen. Henry Dearborn, whose 
son, Brig.-Gen. H. A. S. Dearborn, married Hannah Swett 
Lee, sister of Lieut. Lee. Lieut. Lee married his cousin 
Hannah, daughter of Hon. Nathaniel and Mary (Lee) 
Tracy, a woman of great beauty. 

Their son, Gen. William Raymond Lee, was born in 
Salem, Aug, 15, 1807, and died in Boston, December 26, 
1891. He was educated at the American Literary, Scien- 
tific and Military Academy and at West Point, in the class 
of 1829. He was the first superintendent of the Boston 
& Providence Railroad, was superintendent and president 
of the Vermont Central and the New York, Ogdensburg 
and Champlain Railroad, and consulting engineer of the 
same railroad, was chairman of the Board of Direcjfcors, 
and was unanimously elected president of the Rutland & 
Burlington Railroad. He was Colonel of the Harvard 
Regiment, 20th Massachusetts Vols., during the Civil 
War, was Brev. Brig.-Gen. U. S. V., and Brig.-Gen. of 
the Massachusetts troops. He was given the honorary 
degree of M.A. by Harvard in 1851, and was a Fellow of 
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. (See Brevet 
Brigadier-General William Raymond Lee, U. S. V., A. M., 
A. A. S., by Thomas Amory Lee, A. M., LL. B.) He mar- 
ried, 1842, Helen Maria Amory, daughter of Thomas 
Amory, Esq., granddaughter of Dr. William Bowen, A.M., 
of Providence, and a descendant of the Hon. Jonathan 
Amory, who was treasurer of the Province of South 
Carolina, Speaker of the Assembly, etc., etc., 1693-97, 
and a descendant of Roger Williams, the founder of 
Rhode Island. General Lee had three children, (1) Eliz- 
abeth Amory, who married General O. H. Ernst, U. S. A., 
and whose daughter, Elizabeth Lee Ernst, married Hon. 
William Morton Grinnell, nephew of Vice President Levi 
P. Morton, who was assistant Secretary of State for the 
United States, and an officer of U. S. Vol. in the Spanish- 
American War; (2) Lieut. Arthur Tracy Lee, U. S. A., 
1845-70, a graduate of the United States Military Acad- 
emy, 1865, and aide-de-camp to the President of the 
United States ; (3) Robert Ives Lee, 1846-1911, educated 
at St. Paul's School, a prominent horseman of the middle 




GEN. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE 

I 807 - I 891 

From the portrait by Chester Harding, now owned by 

Thomas Amory Lee. 



DESCENDANTS OF COL. WILLIAM RAYMOND LEE. 29 

West. He was elected to the Massachusetts Society of 
the Cincinnati, travelled at home and abroad, and mar- 
ried, March 31, 1880, Abbie Katherine Kimber, daughter 
of Henry and Jean (Henry) Kimber, of Kimberton, Pa., 
and descended from Col. Richard Kimber, an officer of 
Cromwell's army. (See sketch of R. I. Lee in W. E. 
Connelley's History of Kansas and " Robert Ives Lee " by 
Thomas Amory Lee. They had three children : (a) Helen 
Amory, married, 1912, William Henry Van Horn of 
Chicago, educated at Michigan University ; (b) Thomas 
Amory, A. B., A. M. and LL. B., travelled at home and 
abroad. Second Lieutenant in the Missouri National Guard, 
an attorney of Topeka, Kansas, member of many histori- 
cal societies, and author of about a dozen historical, bio- 
graphical and genealogical sketches ; (c) Anna Louise, of 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

Among the descendants of Col. Lee's daughter, Hannah 
Swett Lee, who married Hon. H. A. S. Dearborn, A. M., 
A. A. S., son of Major-General Henry Dearborn, com- 
mander-in-chief of the U. S. Army during the War of 
1812, are Miss Sarah Dearborn of Boston, Miss Mary 
Clapp of Portland, Me., and William Raymond Lee 
Dearborn of the U. S. Navy. 



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